PA Leaders Consider Next Steps to Turn $92B Talk into Action
As we previously reported, a truly mind-blowing event was held in Pittsburgh last week—the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, organized by PA Senator Dave McCormick (see Pittsburgh Energy Event Truly Mind-Blowing, $92B+ Investments for PA). During the event, a list of projects was announced that will result in over $92 billion of private investment in PA over the next 10 years. Much of the focus was on the Marcellus Shale and its potential role in providing energy for powering massive new data centers. The question is, how does Pennsylvania turn all that talk into action? Read More “PA Leaders Consider Next Steps to Turn $92B Talk into Action”
In an interview with the Financial Times, EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice stated that onerous permitting rules are hindering President Trump’s ambitions for energy dominance. Rice said Congress needs to cut project approval times to compete with Russian LNG exports and to win the AI race against China. His message was clear: Permitting reform, NOW. We’ve danced around permitting reform long enough (for years). It’s time to act. Republicans control Congress and the White House. If we can’t get permitting reform done now, it will never get done. 
On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state (see 
Venture Global (VG) is building a massive LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20 miles south of New Orleans. It’s creatively called Plaquemines LNG. VG is bringing Plaquemines LNG online in two phases. Each phase consists of nine blocks, and each block contains two liquefaction units, called trains, for a total of 18 liquefaction trains each (36 trains for both phases). Phase 1 began exporting in December (see 
Freeport LNG, located near Galveston, Texas, currently exports roughly 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from three trains—when it’s actually up and running. The Freeport facility has been plagued with outages, the most spectacular of which happened in June 2022, taking the facility offline for 10 months (see 
In December 2017 (7.5 years ago!), MDN told you about the bastardization of our justice system by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg funneled money to the New York University (NYU) School of Law, which in turn pays to hire radical (Democrat) attorneys to work inside the offices of the attorneys general in Democrat-controlled states, including Pennsylvania (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Democrat-led northeast now has highest electricity prices in nation; NATIONAL: Kelcy Warren’s dual impact of building energy infrastructure while championing philanthropy; What the media still won’t tell you about the energy transition; Natgas prices sink on the outlook for cooler us temps and higher gas production; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slides amid demand concerns; EU lifts sanctions against three LNG tankers formerly working for Russia; Spain’s gas demand soars as power plants burn more since blackout. 
We finally saw some relief last week for the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count, which added rigs for the first time in three months (12 weeks). The U.S. count added seven rigs and now stands at 544 active rigs. However, it was gas-focused rigs that saved the day. The number of oil-focused rigs continued to fall last week (down another two) while gas-focused rigs had a massive increase (up by nine). The Marcellus/Utica count stayed even last week (after falling by one three weeks ago) at a combined 35 active rigs. There were 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 12 rigs targeting the Utica last week. 
Two years ago, Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Company (aka TETCO) filed to build the Appalachia to Market II Project (A2M II) and the Entriken HP Replacement Project (see 
The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project is designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. Following some intense conversations between President Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, she caved (according to the White House). She agreed to allow two long-stalled pipeline projects—the Constitution and NESE—to get built in NY in return for Trump allowing her to continue to sink $5 billion into an offshore wind project (see 
Anti-fossil fuel zealots, led (and funded) by the odious Sierra Club, made silly horse’s rear-ends of themselves yesterday at Waterfront Park in Louisville, Kentucky. A small group (under 20 judging by photos) engaged in a fake funeral procession with a box shaped like a black coffin with the words “DIED FROM FOSSIL FUELS” written on the side of it to object to the construction of a tiny, 12-mile pipeline in the area. Here’s the thing: The people engaging in these theatrics were all wearing clothes made FROM fossil fuels, wearing hats made from fossil fuels, sporting sneakers made from fossil fuels, most with glasses made from fossil fuels, carrying banners and signs made from fossil fuels, speaking into a PA system that was made with fossil fuels, and carrying a fake coffin that was painted with paint that comes from fossil fuels. Do they know just how stupid they looked? 
Danskammer Energy, which had operated a gas-fired peaker power plant along the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, worked on a project to upgrade the plant since 2018. In June 2024, Danskammer Energy withdrew its permit application with the fossil fuel-hostile state, formally ending attempts to expand after nearly seven years of frustration in trying and receiving rejections from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Let the idiots who keep the Dems in power sit in the dark and see how that feels. Now, the idiots (and leftist politicians who want to keep their jobs) are waking up and saying, “Oh crap. We might need those gas-fired plants after all.” It sounds so sweet to say: WE TOLD YOU SO! 
For the week of July 7 – 13, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica remained the same as the previous week. There were 21 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week. The Keystone State (PA) issued seven new permits. Range Resources secured three permits, spread across Beaver and Washington counties, in the southwestern part of the state. Seneca Resources received two permits in Tioga County, in the northeastern part of the state. Greylock Energy and Coterra Energy each received a single permit, in Potter and Susquehanna counties, respectively.